Nagamandal

                               Nagamandala

 GIRISH KARNAD

He was born in Maharashtra on May 19, 1938. He got his bachelor's degree from the Karnatak University in 1958 and then proceeded on a fellowship to study at Oxford where he secured his M.A. degree in 1963.

Karnad is internationally known as a playwright, but is also a highly talented film-maker, a versatile actor, an able cultural administrator, a noted communicator and a person of wide accomplishments and interests. Based on his serious explorations of folklore, mythology and history, the subject of his plays reflect the problems and challenges of contemporary life, and endeavour to forge a link between the past and the present. The creative intellectual that he is, he obviously views the subjects of his plays from his own perspective, develops them in the crucible of his own imagination and personal experiences, and employs them as a medium to communicate his own-independent and original-feelings, thoughts and interpretations.

                                        Nagamandala

The play Naga-Mandala is written by GirishKarnad in 1987-88. The word Naga-Mandala means play with cobra. The play circles around the snake which changes its form into human being to meet its beloved. This is based on the two folk’s tales from Karnad’s mentor A.K Ramanujan. Here the term Naga-Mandala is consists of two words, ‘Naga’ and ‘Mandala’. According to history of culture it illustrates the joining together of male and female snakes. The title of the play Naga-Mandala (play with cobra) is extremely significant. It highlights one of the dramatic character around which the entire story develop. 

Karnad dedicates this book to his friend, mentor A.K Ramanujan. He wrote this book during the year he spent at the University of Chicago as visiting Professor and Fulbright scholar in residence. The play was first presented by Shri Shankar Nag in Kannada with his group, ‘Sanket’. Naga-Mandala was premiered in US by the Guthrie Theatre of Minneapolis as a part of its thirtieth anniversary celebrations. The Guthrie and the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester, UK have been among the theaters that commissioned Karnad to write for them. (Karnad, 1990)

                                     Plot Overview 

Rani is a young bride who is neglected by her indifferent and unfaithful husband, Appanna. Appanna spends most of his time with his concubine and comes home only for lunch. Rani is a typical wife who wants to win her husband’s affection by any means. In an attempt to do so, she decides to drug her husband with a love root, which she mixes in the milk. That milk is spilled on the nearby anthill and Naga, the cobra drinks it.

Naga, who can take the form of a human, is enchanted with her and begins to visit her every night in the guise of her husband. This changes Rani's life completely as she starts to experience the good things in life though she never knows that the person with her is not her husband but the Naga.

Soon she becomes pregnant and breaks the news to Appanna. He immediately accuses her of adultery and says that he has not impregnnated her. The issue is referred to the village Panchayat. Rani is then asked to prove her fidelity by putting her hand in the snake burrow and taking a vow that she has not committed adultery. (It is a popular belief that if any person lies holding the snake in their hand, they will be instantly killed by the snake God.)

Rani places her hand in the snake burrow and vows that she has never touched any male other than her husband and the Naga in the burrow. She is declared chaste by the village Panchayat. However, her husband is not ready to accept that she is pregnant with his child and decides to find out the truth by spying on the house at night. Appanna is shocked to see the Naga visiting Rani in his form, spending time with her and then leaving the house.

Appanna gets furious with the Naga and indulges in a fight with him. Both of them fight vigorously. Eventually, the Naga dies in the fight. After this incident, Appanna realizes his mistake and accepts Rani along with the child she is carrying.